UAE gains as tourists skip Egypt

Tourists are converging upon Dubai and Abu Dhabi this Christmas, as travellers seek alternative warm winter getaways to turbulent Egypt and Tunisia. But an economic slump in Europe has left tourists with less to spend than in previous years, travel agents warned. Revolution in Egypt had convinced many travellers who would have headed to Cairo or Alexandria to stay home or travel elsewhere, said Shane Mallon, the manager of Capricorn Travel, a UK travel agent. "People are completely shunning Egypt - not exclusively, but a lot have disappeared," he said. "I think provided they price themselves appropriately, Abu Dhabi and Dubai could potentially gain." The boost in bookings to Dubai will reverse the numbers of travellers avoiding the emirate, which is relatively expensive compared with other parts of the Middle East, said Mary Philobbos, the director of Mina World Travel, an independent travel agent in the UK. "Dubai isn't cheap," she said. "They've got most of the same products in England, and who wants to go to Dubai to buy English products when they can get it cheaper in the sales?" But with other cheap Middle Eastern tourist hotspots largely being avoided, Dubai is set to gain, she said. "People stopped going to Tunisia and Egypt for a while … and they started to go to Dubai again." However, a fall in the value of the Egyptian pound against the euro and sterling meant Egypt remained attractive for tourists. "As much as Egypt has a lot of troubles, some people still prefer to go to the Red Sea for Christmas," Ms Philobbos said. Revolutions that overthrew governments in Egypt and Tunisia have led to major problems for European tour operators. Thomas Cook reported an £80 million (Dh461.7m) hit to its full-year operating profit, which it attributed to lost income from holidaymakers avoiding the Middle East, a key location for the British tour operator. "This year, the Arab Spring resulted in a dramatic fall-off in travel to the important Mena destinations," the company said as it announced pre-tax losses for the full year of £389m. The company was forced to seek £200m in emergency financing from banks in October to avert a debt crisis. The winter travel season, which accounts for slightly more than one-third of Thomas Cook's revenues, " has got off to a slow start as economic concerns  weigh on consumers' minds," the company said, adding that it was taking a "cautious" stance on capacity and may reduce holidays further. Competitors such as TUI Travel have also reduced winter capacity to Middle Eastern destinations, with bookings to Egypt by German customers 39 per cent lower than last year. Club Mediterranée, the French tour operator, said there had been a slowdown in winter bookings during October and last month. Bucking the trend is Dart Group, the operator of the holiday airline Jet2.com, which has increased capacity by 15 per cent. But Dubai will see little benefit - Dart is increasing services to the Canary Islands, which it says have replaced Egypt as the preferred spot for winter breaks.